


27 Years

by LadyofStories



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Banter, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, I Snatched A Small Bit Of Dialogue From That, I'm Sorry I'll Stop With The Tags Now, It's That New Movie Which Is Really Fucking Awesome, M/M, Mild Inspiration From Long Shot, Mutual Hand jobs, Or Will I?, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Richie is his own warning, Romance, Stan Is Still Dead RIP, The Kissing Bridge (IT), The Kissing Bridge Is Magic Or Some Shit, You Should Totally Watch It, absolutely pure, gay magic, soft, softcore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 11:01:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21509980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyofStories/pseuds/LadyofStories
Summary: Richie has to return to Derry, Maine to stop Pennywise. He is forced to remember what he would rather forget, a memory near the Kissing Bridge. The rest is basically just your average fix-it fic with some spicy extra shit
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 1
Kudos: 62





	27 Years

It was all because of a phone call from a home he couldn’t remember, but apparently his senses did.

Richie got the call just before he had to step onto the stage. Familiarity filled his gut when he saw where the call was coming from. It was an unknown number from Derry, Maine. He hesitated at pressing the button to answer, trembling for reasons he did not know. An anxiety filled him and his subconscious was screaming at him to just throw the phone and forget about it. He ignored the feelings and thoughts and answered, because deep down he felt that it was an obligation by which he must.

“Richie….It’s Mike.”

His stomach flipped and he never felt more scared in his life, or at least he thought. He didn’t remember much of his past, the man on the other end of the line knew that. Mike told him he had to come back to Derry and a sickness washed over Richie. When he got off the phone, he immediately leaned over the fire escape and puked. Acid burned his throat as his stomach contents rushed up and splattered on the pavement below, the foul taste and smell hitting him. Thankfully, there was no one to get hit by it and suffer misfortune. 

Well, it was back to Derry he went, to kill that fucking clown.

*

Everything came back to him while he was in Derry, almost all of it. Richie realized why he was so hesitant to go back, and it wasn’t quite because of a clown. No. Richie had once loved a boy who wore a cast proudly on a broken arm he got from being there for his friends. He had a crush on the cousin of the town’s biggest asshole. He struggled to grasp feelings of wanting to kiss boys and hold their hands. He was hesitant because of his feelings and his true fear.

Richie realized that he was gay, and everything in his life seemed to click into place. He wanted to run from it all once he had learned, but he didn’t. A friend who had passed stopped him from doing that. A friend named Stanley Uris and his motivational words in his church on the day he would become a man. When he had fully embraced and declared that he was a loser. He was trying to escape in that red car which Eddie had called a death trap, but he was turning around and going back. 

He reunited with his friends, his Losers, and he decided he wouldn’t run anymore. Because they were losers, and losers stick together. They went to the Neibolt house, and Richie looked over at Eddie as they approached the front. Eddie was staring back at him. He could feel a particular memory prickling at the back of his mind, fuzzy and unreachable at the moment. The memory scared him, but it also soothed him. Richie breathed in slowly, then exhaled and gave Eddie an unsteady smile and a nod. Eddie reciprocated with a faint smile before gazing forward. 

Richie felt sparks, but he pushed it down. 

Bill turned to the group and recalled the memory of their last visit to the house while giving a speech, much like the first time they had done this bullshit. He squeezed the same line Richie gave the last time out of him with only a small amount of difficulty that it took to remember his words, the exact phrasing, almost.

“Let’s kill this fucking clown.”

He remembered, quite vividly, what he had said and how he had acted the last time. He was going on a rant, directed at Bill, then grabbed a bat and said the words, “Now, I’m gonna have to kill this fucking clown.” Too bad much of it was still mostly blank for him, but he remembered what it all felt like, how it felt. It was the best/worst summer he had.

*

It took a while for them to reach the lair and get inside of the meteor strike thing and perform the ritual which actually brought forth Pennywise, rather than trap the cosmic entity. Mike had lied to them and was going to get them killed. He fucked up and they were all likely to die because he thought some bullshit like ‘believing’ would help.

Everyone got split up in their retreat from It, and they had to fend for themselves or protect and save each other. When they collected once more at the middle, Mike was snatched up by It and about to be devoured. As much as he nearly got them killed by lying, Richie wasn’t going to let him die. That was still his friend who was going to be killed, and losers were meant to stick together. He was just doing what he thought was a great idea at the time.

Richie thought nothing of it when he grabbed a rock and threw it at the giant clown head. “Hey, fuckface!” The arachnid clown turned on him, head and all. Mike was cast aside carelessly, colliding with rock wall and falling to the ground. That was going to hurt like a bitch. Richie reached down for another rock while everyone’s eyes were fearfully glued to him. He himself felt the fear, but he used it to feed his adrenaline. “Want to play truth or dare? Here’s a truth! You’re a sloppy bitch! Yeah, that’s right! Let’s dance!” Richie reared back his armed hand and was ready to whip the next rock. “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfu--!”

Richie was caught in the deadlights, his eyes rolling back to leave the whites only to view. The rock was all but gone from his grasp as his arms hung limply, his mouth agape. He gazed unwillingly into the bright light, and then suddenly the light wasn’t just light. He was being shown things in what time he was caught in the lights, as blood made its way out of his nose.

He saw the next events, what would happen, and he saw ways he could prevent it. He saw the end of the clown, which was odd for the creature to show him. He saw Eddie, dead, having made an attempt to save him from his position at that moment, being caught in the deadlights. Richie saw, from first person, himself being dragged away from the dead body of the man he had loved, still loved. He felt himself screaming out his name and trying to go back in while they tried to bring him out. He watched the house collapse into the depths, on top of Eddie. He could feel every ounce of the emotional pain brought on by the events.

They were then in the quarry, cleaning up and reminiscing about what Eddie would say. Eddie was dead, and there was no way he was ever coming back. He fucked up his possible chance and lost him. Eddie was at the bottom of that pit and long gone. He was cleaning his glasses on the rock he sat upon, a grim look glued to his face, then he was breaking down and crying. He was crying harder and feeling more emotionally ruined than he ever had.

The deadlights showed him the carving in the railing on the bridge, the kissing bridge. He was recarving the letters and plus sign out. It was an odd feeling, because he also remembered something he had forgotten. While he was trapped in the deadlights, a memory which had been itching at him before they went into the house became clear and replayed. It was something so important, and he had forgotten all about it.

_It was sometime after Richie had carved their initials into the bridge. They were together on the other side of the railing, down by the water. Richie was skipping rocks across the water’s surface. He got a real good record of nine skips before he started cheering, turning to Eddie with a big grin plastered onto his face. “Did you see that? I got NINE fucking skips off of that one!” Eddie rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “What the hell is so exciting about watching a rock bounce across a water surface? Watch out, because some rocks have sharp edges and there’s probably crack needles over here.” There was the Eddie that Richie knew, always so concerned about health. He always thought he would grow up to be a very anal doctor, fussing about every little thing._

_“It’s cool just because it is, dude, I’m sorry your mommy doesn’t let you throw rocks. I thought you would be past that after the rock fight we had with Bowers?” Richie picked up another rock and was getting ready to throw it when Eddie made a scoffing sound. “Shut up and let me have one of those.” The shorts clad teen was getting up off of the grass and walking over to stand by Richie, fanny pack and all. He extended a hand, impatiently waiting for a rock. Richie placed the one he had just picked up into his hand. Eddie switched the rock into the other hand and gripped it, testing the weight in his hand for a moment. He made a bad attempt to skip it across, only grazing the surface before it plopped into the water._

_Visibly, Eddie sagged on the spot. “Damn,” he muttered. “Here, let me show you,” Richie offered as he grabbed two more rocks, giving one to Eddie and keeping the other. Both the rocks were flat and smooth. Richie gripped his with his thumb and middle finger, then hooked his index along the edge firmly. He held the rock out for Eddie to see. “Hold it just like this, alright?” Eddie nodded and replicated how Richie had his fingers poised. “Then you just draw it back like this,” he demonstrated with his motion. “And it’s just a quick flick of the wrist.” To prove his point, Richie acted out just what he was demonstrating, skipping the rock across the water’s still surface, until it plopped and sank into the water. “Now you give it a try, Spaghetti Man.”_

_“Don’t call me that, dipshit,” Eddie shot down the nickname, then did as he was taught. The rock smoothly skipped about five times across the surface before plopping into the water. Eddie felt ecstatic and turned to Richie with a bright smile on his face that made his heart skip, like a rock on water. “Oh my god, I actually did it!”_

_They skipped more rocks together after the rush of Eddie managing to get his first five skips. When they felt like they skipped enough, both of them sat on the grass and watched the water together. Eddie was more so sitting while Richie was laying, spread out on the grass. “Hey, Rich?” Eddie glanced over at Richie, watching how his eyes flicked in his direction from behind those lenses for a moment before his head turned, kind of just lolling over to the side.“Yeah?” Richie replied._

_“Do you like anyone?” Richie hadn’t been expecting that question, so he tensed for a moment before sitting up beside Eddie. Did he know about the carving? No, that was impossible, it was only their initials. He decided to go for an escape route through a joke. “What? You are jealous of your mom getting all of the action and you want a piece of me too? Damn, Eds!” Eddie’s face took on an unfamiliar expression, one which Richie had never seen before. “What if I said yes?” It took a lot of willpower just for Eddie to manage that, and he could feel his heart pounding. The need to grab his inhaler was heavy._

_Richie didn’t know what to say, but his own heart was beating out of his chest and he decided that his words wouldn’t be enough. He was Richie Trashmouth Tozier, not some cheesy romantic. He was better with insults and jokes than he was with being open and honest about his feelings. Instead of speaking and saying anything, Richie took Eddie by the face and drew him into a kiss._

Richie was drawn out of the memory and all, the light disappearing and darkness greeting him, mostly. He fell from where he was held up, entranced by the deadlights, and landed harshly on his back. The air was quickly punched out of him by the impact and he found himself panting.

Suddenly, Eddie was on top of him. “Rich! Hey Rich! Wake up!” He slowly came to, his eyes rolling about until he refocused, focusing on Eddie’s face with that ridiculous bandage on his cheek. He was concerned, but then a grin was on Eddie’s face.”Yeah! Yeah, there he is, buddy! Hey, Richie, listen! I think I got him, man! I think I killed It! I did! I think I--” Suddenly, Richie was lunging forward and wrapping his arms around Eddie and rolling them out of the way. “Rich, what the he-- Holy shit!” The spike came down beside them. “You saved me,” Eddie gasped out, suddenly breathless.

“Yeah, and I’m about to save your ass plenty more, even when this fucker is dead. C’mon!” Richie quickly scrambled to get to his feet and pulled Eddie up with him, taking his hand and dragging him along as they ran. Everyone followed after as they ducked into safety, away from the rage of the cosmic clown entity which tried its damned hardest to claw after them. “Alright, so, what’s the plan?” Bill asked, glancing around at everyone. They needed an answer on how to finish It off, and fast. “I almost killed it,” Eddie realized, recalling the confrontation he had. “The Leper. My hands were on his throat, and I could feel him choking. He seemed so weak.” Mike’s eyes seemed to light up. “All living things must abide by the shape they inhabit,” he said.

And so, together, the Losers put an end to the entity known as It. They made him believe that he was small and backed him into the corner at the core of the meteor strike which brought him. They made the creature believe that it had a heart, then ripped it from its chest before its eyes. Each other of them gripped the heart, Eddie being more reluctant, and squeezed the life from the squirming, weak creature. Once it had died, the building started to collapse around them, the true fall of the being who had so much control over their lives, but no more. Richie didn’t waste any time in grabbing onto Eddie’s hand and dragging him along towards their exit. Everyone else was hot on their trail.

The Losers escaped, undamaged, from the rubble, and watched the rest of the collapse together. When it was all over, they were off to the quarry, the same ledge they jumped off of as kids. The group arrived at the location and stopped at the guardrail to take their shoes and outer layers off, then climbed over. They each lined up and ran and jumped right in. Eddie was a bit hesitant, but he jumped after anyway. Everyone swam until they came to a stop to clean themselves off in the water. “This is absolutely unsanitary,” Eddie commented, looking around at everyone. “I mean, do you want to get a staph infection or what?” Richie grinned and splashed Eddie with the dirty water, earning a gasp from him. “Oh, now that is it, Tozier!” With that, Eddie tackled Richie into the water.

Everyone got cleaned up the best one could in a quarry, then got out and headed back to the hotel. They were still wet, but they didn’t care. Each of them took a shower, however, then packed up their items for when they would leave. For the time being, they just planned to stay the night until the morning when they would say their goodbyes. Everyone was far too tired to leave just yet.

Richie got to his room and took a shower and passed out almost immediately after getting tangled in the provided blankets. When he woke up the next morning, he was immediately getting dressed and heading out the door with his bags, using one hand to push his glasses up. “Already leaving?” It was Eddie. He didn’t even have to look to see, but he did turn to catch sight of him with, probably, a cup of coffee in his hands. Such an old man. “Yeah, might as well start early to get back to LA.” Richie wanted to avoid the confrontation with Eddie, but there he was. He felt like he was thirteen in that moment. “I thought you would be already out the door and rushing back to your wife. I guess we are all full of surprises today,” Richie joked with Eddie, smirking at him. 

Eddie rolled his eyes at Richie and set his coffee down. “Not making jokes about moms at these early hours? I told everyone the water would get them sick.” He was joking, and it didn’t go unnoticed. “Don’t worry, your mom loves sickly dicks.” Richie didn’t resist tossing in a wink on top of his terrible retort. “Anyway, I have my Reno tour dates to hop on top of.” It was his escape. He was running away and he knew it. 

Eddie gave Richie an odd look, but nodded, offering a smile. “I’ll let them know that you had to leave early. Sorry, man, I wish you could have stayed.” Richie looked Eddie over for a moment before sighing and dropping his baggage. He walked over to his old friend and drew him into a hug. “Maybe one day you can come and see one of my shows,” Richie said, giving Eddie a small squeeze before drawing back. Eddie snorted and rolled his eyes. “I think I’ll pass until you start writing your own material, Tozier. Now get your ass going.”

He did just as Eddie had told him. He put everything in his car and took off, but he made a stop at a particular spot. Richie stopped at the bridge, just as he had done twenty-seven years ago. He switched the engine off and headed over to the aged carving of his and Eddie’s initials and cast a solemn glance towards the water, at the small bank there where he and Eddie had skipped rocks. Richie drew the knife he carried from his pocket and knelt down beside the railing. The point of the blade was pressed into the first initial, and he shakily went over the lines, cutting fresh ones. With each move of his hand and newly cut line, Richie watched as the initials became clear once again, among the other old and new carvings. It was the reminder that he still loved the kid with the fake inhaler who hated to get dirty and stayed far out of trouble, or at least tried and failed to. A symbol of the unsaid words.

Richie left, and he thought he would feel relieved to be leaving it all behind, but he was anything but that. He was on his way back to the West, and he felt like he was missing something, and an ache lingered in his chest. It was terrifying to be in Derry, but it left him feeling empty to leave it behind him. He remembered everything when he crossed the state line, which was most of his worry about leaving. Richie decided he would do his best not to think about it. It was time to move forward.

*

Richie got back to LA, then headed out to Reno as he had said. He went on his tours and tried not to think about a certain man with hypochondria and Munchausen Syndrome who always had a way to get him going. Then the letter arrived. He was just about to go on stage when his manager came up to him with the letter in hand. “This just came in for you, you could open it now or later, just make sure you get out there on that stage.” Richie had turned in time to have the letter shoved in his direction. He took the envelope and opened it up and took out the enclosed letter.

_“Dear Losers,_

_I know what this must seem like, but this isn’t a suicide note. You’re probably wondering why I did what I did. It’s because I knew I was too scared to go back. And if we weren’t together? If all of us alive weren’t united? I knew we’d all die. So, I made the only logical move. I took myself off the board. Did it work? Well, if you’re reading this… Then you know the answer. I lived my whole life afraid. Afraid of what I might leave behind. Don’t be. Be who you want to be. If you find someone worth holding on to? Never fucking let them go. Follow your own path, wherever that takes you. I know I told you this wasn’t a suicide note, and it isn’t. It’s a promise I’m asking you to make to me. To each other. An oath. The thing about being a loser is… you don’t have anything to lose. So be true. Be brave. Stand. Believe. And don’t ever forget_

_We’re Losers. And we always will be._

_-Stan”_

Richie glanced out towards the stage after he had finished reading and swallowed hard. He gripped the page a bit tightly in his hand, then folded it neatly and tucked it into his pocket. Shakily, he brought a hand up and pushed his glasses back up.

_Be who you want to be._

Richie took a step forward onto the stage and made his way across as the cheers erupted.

_Follow your own path, wherever that takes you._

He smiled at the audience and waved, forcing down the vomit he felt trying to come up. It wasn’t the time for that and he wasn’t going to let it be. It was time to toss the script and go by his own material, but it was going to have to be improv.

_The thing about being a loser is… you don’t have anything to lose._

He came up to the microphone and, with a distinctly shaking hand, removed it from the stand and brought it up to his face as his eyes scanned over the many faces before him.

_So be true. Be brave. Stand. Believe._

Richie took in a deep breath, which sounded through the mic. It was time for him to get started. He chuckled and started the show off. “What’s up, Reno!” The cheers only grew louder before everyone settled down so the fun could begin.

“So, before we start this off, there’s something I’d like to put out there.” He fiddled with the microphone, then pushed his glasses up. “I am gay. There. I said it and I meant it. I know I look like I work at a comic book store or should be at Blizzcon, but nope. I’m gay, and I’m a comedian.” The cheers and laughter followed at his confession and he could feel his manager getting pissed behind him, or it may have been his imagination. 

After his show was over, Richie left. It was an absolute success, and the feedback was great, despite the fact that it was all improv. He got an earful from his manager, but all was well. The tour finished and he returned to LA. The thing was, he felt the weight gone, but he was still feeling empty. Richie had no idea what he was missing. Not until he was accepting an offer to do a show somewhere in New York. 

*

Richie took a flight from LA to New York, almost too quickly. Hope filled his heart and replaced the emptiness he felt before. Richie slept much of the flight to New York and awoke a good half hour before everyone had to get off at the airport. He caught himself a cab upon leave, taking it to his pre-booked hotel to drop off his things and settle down before his show.

The afternoon came and Richie had high expectations for the show to come, particularly due to what it meant to him. He took another cab to where he would be holding his show and walked right in, heading backstage. There was someone he was hoping to see there, somewhere deep down. It was important to see him there.

Richie knocked back a couple of shots and took a few moments for himself before the show was to begin. When he finally was stepping out on the stage, he was glad that he didn’t vomit and felt no nausea. Richie walked right up to the microphone and took it off of the stand. There was no shaking, no hesitation, nothing. “How are we doing tonight, New York?!” It was all cheers he got in return. “Awesome! I’m glad the alcohol is finally hitting everyone tonight so we can get through this together.” There was laughter.

“Well, I want to start this off by saying that I’m still single. Tinder and Grindr both are pretty dry for me. I like to think it’s because they can’t handle my big dick, but it’s obviously because I look like the guy you find working in a comic store. It’s not really sexy. I look like that kind of guy you’ll find working at Walmart or who comes sneaking up on you to assist you in selecting furniture. I mean, if you’re into that kind of thing, I guess we can roleplay a bit. “Hi, my name is Richie, welcome to Walmart.” By the way, my customer servicing would be fantastic.” Richie chuckled a bit with the crowd for a moment before he moved on, pushing his glasses up.

Richie’s show dragged on and did very well with the audience and the sales. He was a bit disappointed because he remembered that he still hadn’t seen Eddie, the one he had come to New York to visit and hopefully run into. He headed backstage and walked into his private room where he just sat down and unscrewed the top of his bottle. He was about to pour himself some of the bad tasting liquid, until he heard some commotion.

“You can’t be back here.” It was the security. “Please, I’m here to see Richie Tozier. I am a friend of his.” The voice was muffled, but it sounded familiar. Richie got up from his seat and made his way over to the door. “Come on, man, you gotta go. Whatever it is, if he wants to see you, he will contact you on his own time.” Richie unlocked the door and turned the knob, pulling it open. “Alright, I’ll just—“ Eddie Kaspbrak was about to turn and leave, Eddie who had tried to confront him directly only to be denied. “Hey, it’s fine, he can come in,” Richie said, all too quickly.

Eddie turned back and caught his gaze. Richie smiled and stepped aside, motioning him in. “Come on, Eds, join me.” Eddie rolled his eyes, but smiled. “I thought I said not to call me that.” Richie gave a full grin in return and responded, “yeah, but I figure we both know I don’t do too well with listening.” Eddie walked right into the room and Richie closed the door before turning to him.

He and Eddie were finally alone together, with no conflict holding them back. It was awkwardly tense. “So, what happened to coming to see me once I started writing my own material?” Richie asked. “I can’t believe you still remember that I said that. Well, the first original piece I caught some clips of online was unscripted and unexpected. It’s also a matter of finding the time. You have no idea.” Eddie replied to Richie’s question. 

He took a deep breath a few seconds after, preparing to get out what he needed to say. “Here’s the deal, Trashmouth, I love you. I know I do, because I’ve never felt more scared in my life about anything, and we’ve fought the clown.” Eddie was playing with his hands and trying his best to maintain eye contact while he fidgeted in place. Richie smiled and made a joke to lighten the mood, “and you married a woman five times your weight.” Eddie took a step forward and Richie noticed his wedding band was gone. “Are you going to say something about what I said, asshole, or just make jokes?” Eddie’s words were absolutely raw, so vulnerable. 

“I’ve loved you ever since I was thirteen,” Richie replied with unguarded honesty. “For twenty-seven years, I’ve been wanting you. And what about you and Myra—?” Eddie cut Richie off by advancing and grabbing him by the front of his shirt and yanking him into a kiss. There were absolutely no questions. They both melted against each other. When they did part, Eddie gave his response, “after the letter, I filed for a divorce and haven’t looked back since. I’ve been wanting you since and didn’t know how else to reach you, and then you came here.”

“You’ve got me now,” Richie mumbled, brushing a thumb over Eddie’s lips before pressing a kiss to his lower lip, then biting it gently. “As you have me,” Eddie muttered, moving to brush his lips over Richie’s jaw, feeling his stubble against his lips. “And what are you going to do about it?” Eddie was making an attempt to be teasing, and he was doing it just right.

Richie groaned lowly, the sound vibrating deep in his chest. “I’m going to do what I only ever fantasized about.” He dipped in and pressed kisses along Eddie’s neck who bared the flesh to him at the first brush of his lips, exposing it to his affectionate assault. “I’m sorry if it doesn’t live up to whatever teenage fantasies you maintained about me,” Eddie managed to squeeze out between quiet moans and soft groans. His neck was quite sensitive and Eddie was responsive.

Richie drew back and rubbed his thumbs into Eddie’s hips, gazing down at him. He got that look in his eyes like he was going to say something brilliant. It was a look Eddie was all too familiar with and definitely was heads over for. “You think just because we are forty that I don’t think you are sexy, Kaspbrak? Just wait, soon you are going to have to change that name to Gaspbrak, at least when I am done with you. You’ll really be needing that inhaler.” There it was. Eddie rolled his eyes and quickly raised himself onto his tip toes, wrapping his arms around Richie and drawing him into a kiss.

Richie pressed Eddie up against the door as the kiss deepened, then reached beside him with one hand to lock the door. He brought the hand back to Eddie’s hip, then slowly slid his hands up under his shirt, over his well defined skin. How he was so muscular was still a mystery. Eddie squirmed against the contact, his muscles like ocean waves as he tensed and relaxed beneath him, the sensation shocking and bringing him pleasure. Eddie found satisfaction in just the feeling of the other man touching him. When air was most dire, they separated. “I think Eddie Tozier sounds much better,” Richie decided between pants.

Eddie rolled his eyes at Richie and smirked, bringing a hand to his cheek, brushing his cheekbone with his thumb. “Tozier-Kaspbrak sounds even better, if you ask me. Or Richie Kaspbrak has a ring to it.” Richie drew back enough to take Eddie’s shirt off and toss it aside. “We will have to see about what you think when I’ve nailed you against the door real good.” Eddie returned the favor, tugging Richie’s layers off. Skin became bare and was opened to contact which was eagerly provided as their hands explored. Fingers with feather-light touches and hands with gentle, admiring caresses mapped out uncharted territory. They created constellations across skin and left a fire in the wake of their every touch.

Richie shared as many kisses as he could in their exploration with Eddie, as if to make up for the kisses he had lost the chance to have for twenty-seven years, ever since the first. Eddie was eager to reciprocate and take all of the kisses greedily, feeling just as robbed. “You can nail me if you have lube, Tozier,” Eddie breathed between kisses, sliding his hands into Richie’s hair to grip and tug. Richie immediately went into search mode, but refused to disconnect from Eddie. He checked his pockets, but turned up empty. 

“Shit,” Richie swore under his breath, drawing back from Eddie to stare him in the eyes. “Eds, we’re gonna have to call a rain check on that lube.” Eddie let out a groan in displeasure at the information. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t just jerk off,” Richie added. Eddie was still mildly disappointed, but he was at least glad to know that they would be continuing. 

Eddie’s hands were quickly fumbling with Richie’s pants, unbuttoning and unzipping them. He dipped a hand into the opened front of his jeans and into his underwear, feeling Richie’s hot and hard length. Richie’s breath hitched at the feeling of Eddie’s slender, curious fingers touching him in such an intimate place. Eddie let his lips part and coiled his fingers around the thick base, stroking. His mouth salivated a bit at the thought of sucking that thick, long, cock, despite how unsanitary such an act would be. “Damn, Rich, you weren’t bullshitting when you said you were hung. Fuck…” Richie groaned and leaned forward against Eddie and his touch. “We could compare dicks later with the Losers, Eds.”

Richie reached between himself and Eddie and opened the front of Eddie’s pants, slipping his hand right in and down his underwear. Richie took hold of Eddie’s cock, hardened with pre-cum leaking from the tip. Eddie twitched in Richie’s hand and let out a low, drawn out groan. “Rich...fuck, I want you to make me cum. Please.” Eddie was begging Richie, and, fuck, if that didn’t turn him right on.

What? He was allowed to have kinks. He was lucky enough to not have fucked up kinks after the shit they had been through. Nothing like a good ole, “hey, babe, put on this clown suit and choke me because that’s the only way I get off now.”

Eddie flexed his fingers around Richie’s base, eliciting a hiss of pleasure from him. They remained close and shared kisses between strokes and their shameless spill of sounds. They each sped up their hands, the pace staggering with their growing knots, the sensations intensifying for both men. Eddie was letting out moans and groans quite carelessly, the noises growing in volume with the speed of Richie’s strokes.

“Fuck, Richie!” Eddie cried out, the twisting deep in his abdomen becoming too much, until it was coming undone with his strokes stuttering and halting for a moment. He came on Richie’s hand and mostly in his pants. Richie slowed his strokes, just as Eddie was resuming his own. “Eds—!” Richie was at his peak not long after the build was back. He finished in his own pants and on Eddie’s hand. They each removed their hands. Eddie wiped the semen on his hand off onto Richie who just licked the mess off of his own hand. “God, you are fucking gross,” Eddie said while making a face at Richie. “But you love it.” Richie winked and grinned at Eddie.

“I do love it, and I love you, but that doesn’t bar you from being a total idiot,” Eddie mumbled, burying his face into Richie’s chest and clinging to him. Richie pressed his lips to Eddie’s forehead and tried to calm his breathing. He allowed his eyes to flutter shut and hugged Eddie tightly to him, willing himself to never let him go again. “I love you, too, Eds. Always have, always will.”

Eddie pulled back from Richie and stared up at him with admiring eyes. “I think I’d like to be known as Eddie Tozier, as long as you talk all about me in your shows.” Richie snorted and rolled his eyes. “Do you really think I will be able to stop myself from talking about you? It’ll be all I can talk about for years to come. The Losers are going to really hate both of us. In no time, we will be banned from any and all meet ups with the Losers.” Eddie leaned up and pressed a light peck against Richie’s lips, a slow smile crossing his lips. “Good, because I want you to announce us officially.” 

Richie blinked a couple of times, his mouth opened slightly out of surprise. “So we are boyfriends? And you want me to tell them that?” Eddie got a glint in his eye, and his pleased smile switched to a smirk. “Make it fiancé. We are too old to be doing the boyfriend thing, and you know damn well we have waited long enough.” 

Richie’s mouth opened and closed multiple times, like a fish, as he tried to find something to say in response. He finally seemed to settle on something when his brain started working again. Richie took Eddie’s hands into his own and asked, “So, wanna get hitched? I loved you for 27 years, and I don’t think I will love anyone else as much as I love you. I’ve made plenty of ‘your mom’ jokes, but it definitely turns out that the only one I’ve been wanting to lay is you. It’s never been about your mother, it’s always been about you.”

Eddie rolled his eyes at Richie, but smiled nonetheless. “Only we would end up having an engagement after a mutual handjob after one of your comedy shows. Yes, Richie, I’ll marry you.”

Only they would fall in love and only actually get together after twenty-seven years. Only they would do half of the silly or crazy shit they do, because they were them. They were Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak, and they would one day be happily married and not divided by that dumb fucking clown. Not to mention, they would end up hyphenating their last names.

Yeah.

Hyphenating. They bickered during sex about whose last name would be taken and said fuck it and went with both.


End file.
